1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the games of billiards, pool and snooker, and more particularly to an apparatus for tightly setting and arranging billiard, pool or snooker balls on the surface of a playing table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the games of billiards, pool, and snooker, the playing balls are arranged in a pre-determined pattern at the start of the game. In the game of pool, for example, fifteen balls are arranged in a triangular pattern using a triangular shaped frame known as a rack. The balls are placed in a triangular formation at a given spot on the playing surface, and the rack is removed. Once the rack is removed from the balls, the formation is broken by a player propelling a cue ball in such a manner as to disperse the formation of balls across the playing surface. The way in which the formation of balls is broken is of utmost importance to how the ensuing game progresses. It is very desirable to compact the formation of balls such that they are set tightly together. The act of compacting the formation of balls such that they are set tightly together is commonly known as “tightening”. This technique allows for the maximum transfer of energy from the cue ball to the balls in formation, and provides a disperse spread of balls across the playing surface. There are various techniques used to compact the formation of balls contained by the rack, the simplest being the use of a player's fingers to push the balls forward in the rack once the balls are contained by the rack. The problem with this technique is with the adhesion that occurs between a player's fingers and the playing balls. The surface adhesion that momentarily occurs when a player removes their fingers from the playing balls serves to disturb the compact formation of balls within the rack. Another problem occurs when the rack is removed from the formation of balls. Upon removal of the rack from a compact formation of balls, there exists the possibility that the rack inadvertently comes into contact with one or more of the playing balls and disturbs the previously compact formation of balls. Such a disturbance can negatively impact the breaking of the formation, or can further result in resetting and retightening the formation prior to the start of play.
The prior art has disclosed various techniques for creating a compact formation of playing balls using various means to tighten the playing balls. Reference may be had, e.g., to U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,671 that uses inclined walls within the rack to create downward pressure on the playing balls. Reference may also be had to U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,862 that uses similar inclined walls within the rack to create downward pressure on the playing balls, and further uses lifting levers to ensure that the compact formation of playing balls is not disturbed upon removal of the rack. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,601,495 and 5,735,750 further use inclined walls to create downward pressure on the playing balls, and use springs to push the rack upward and away from the playing balls once the formation is compacted. U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,341 uses angled packing bars to create downward pressure on the playing balls. There further exists U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,404 that discloses the use of individual pressure pins to create downward pressure on each individual playing ball. Each of these referenced United States Patents describe the use of downward pressure to press the playing balls into the felt of the playing surface. The use of downward pressure of the playing balls into the felt of the playing surface causes wear and fatigue of the playing surface felt, resulting in a playing surface with uneven ball rolling characteristics and premature failure and subsequent replacement of the felt playing surface. The present invention improves upon the attributes of the prior art compression racks by using horizontal pressure to compact the arrangement of playing balls, thus eliminating concerns over the wear and fatigue of the felt of the playing surface.
Reference may further be had to U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,005 that discloses a rack that uses horizontal pressure to compact the playing balls. The rack disclosed uses a ball and socket arrangement such that one corner of the rack triangle pops open upon insertion of the last ball. A problem with such a ball and socket release mechanism is one of vibration whereas the potential exists for the playing balls to be disturbed as the one corner of the rack triangle pops open automatically. Another problem with the use of horizontal compression from a single geometric plane, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,005 arises from the potential lack of size uniformity of the playing balls, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,404: “Unfortunately, the size of the pool balls often lacks uniformity, which makes it difficult to properly rack the balls into a tight formation.” The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by using slide mechanisms to reduce the length of the sides of the rack, and thus apply horizontal compression in both horizontal geometric planes, therefore compensating for any variation in ball size. The present invention further employs a hinge and slide mechanism to completely open one side of the rack, without any risk of disturbing the compacted playing ball formation.
The prior art references cited above use various mechanical means to compress the formation of balls within the rack. A further drawback to the prior art is the resulting shape of the rack. There are many devices in use today to retain and store a standard rack. These devices include retainers for securing racks in a commercial pool hall, holders for retaining accessories such as cue sticks, racks, chalk, and balls, carrying cases for racks, and the like. Many of the racks referenced in the prior art have a shape that does not conform to the shape of a typical rack. This precludes the use of such prior art racks with most rack retention and storage devices. The present invention conforms to the geometry of a typical rack, thus allowing the use of the present invention with most rack retention and storage devices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved rack for compacting a formation of playing balls using horizontal pressure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved rack for compacting a formation of playing balls and allowing for removal of said rack without disturbing the formation of playing balls.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved rack for compacting a formation of playing balls whereas the improved rack fits in a standard rack holder or rack slot such as the rack holders or rack slots found in billiard halls.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the discussion appearing in the remainder of this specification.